It was a Gridiron Tuesday Commanders radio style for Rooster & Doc as they welcomed in London Fletcher – sore right shoulder and all from throwing so many fist pump punches after the Commanders’ win on Sunday – to continue the party of Washington heading to the Divisional Round.
“My right shoulder is a little sore! But I wish I'd have thrown 19 punches as the kind of symbol of the 19 years since we had won our previous playoff game,” Fletcher laughed about his reaction you can see in the video below. “But when I saw it, I was like, damn, why the hell did I throw so many punches, but I guess I'm from the old school, I wanna make sure my man is finished!”
The Commanders did indeed finish the Bucs off on Sunday night, and to Doc and Fletch, it’s just indicative of how far this group had come since they made their season debut on that same field four months earlier, especially the QB who made his NFL debut in that game.
“Just the growth; when you looked at Jayden from Week 1 to Sunday night, it’s night and day. He was carving up the Bucs' defense so bad that they had to stop blitzing,” Fletcher said. “The Bucs blitzed the second most in the NFL to Minnesota, and on third and fourth downs, they ramped it up even more – but on that third-and-6 where he hit Dyami, normally the Bucs would have been dialing up a blitz and bringing the house, but they only brought three. They didn't even want to blitz because he was just dicing them up. I liked the aggressive play-calling by Kliff Kingsbury, but the quarterback, he’s so special. Regardless of all the chaos that's going on around him, he's just so poised, and it's just unbelievable what he's been able to do.”
Oh, yeah, and after making that throw to Dyami Brown, that same QB was able to escape a guy who had been haranguing him all night to scamper for a first down, which let the Commanders wind down the clock ahead of their game-winning field goal.
“You talk about the special player, and to add to that, Calijah Kancey is one of the best young defensive players in the NFL. It wasn't like a JAG that he was he was breaking attack on, that guy’s a dude,” Fletcher said. “So for him to be able to do that? The ball handling, the sleight of hand, the ability to elude that tackle from Kancey…just tremendous play by him, knowing where he had to get to, and getting there and diving to keep the clock going and set us up for the game-winning field goal.”
Doc and Fletcher both played for Dick Vermeil – Walker at UCLA, Fletcher with the Rams – and both agreed that the way the Commanders look right now, under Dan Quinn, reminds them of the way Vermeil ran his teams…which, if you look at his resume, has an undefeated season and Rose Bowl win with the Bruins and two Super Bowls (with one win) in the NFL.
“There was great connectivity between those teams, and it was built during training camp and in the offseason – I hear you talking all the time about the ‘5 o'clock club’ where y’all didn’t go home, you were hanging out, and these guys are so connected that they're hanging out with each other,” Fletcher said. “They built that trust and that brotherhood that they talk about in the offseason and off the field, so when it comes to those moments in these tough games, the reason they’re able to win is because they have so much trust in one another, so much chemistry and confidence and belief in one another, that it manifests itself on game day. It’s a credit to Dan Quinn and the way he's put together his team.”
Take a listen to Fletcher’s entire call-in, as he talks about that kind of experience he had in St. Louis and Washington, discusses Bobby Wagner's performance this season, and more!